Case File Numbering System

The County Clerk has used a numerical filing system since the recording of file No. 1 for each filing beginning in the 1880’s and we progressed in numerical sequence through June 30, 1978 for the juvenile files and through December 31, 1978 for other files.

Our numbering system was divided into three sections being criminal, civil/domestic and probate/guardianships/adoption/mental illness. Commencing July 1, 1978 and January 1, 1979 we converted our system to computer docketing and the nine-digit numbering system, which is set up as follows:

The first two digits of the case number are used to indicate the year the case was filed. The third digit is used to designate the case type. The next series of digits is the actual sequential number of the case beginning from "00001" in that particular year. The last digit of the case number is called the "check-digit" and is used to verify the correctness of the previous digits and year.

Our office started with three case types: Criminal, Civil, and Probate. The Criminal case types contained all criminal actions and also contained paternity actions from April 6, 1891 to June 17, 1974. The Civil case types contained all civil matters. It also contained all domestic and paternity matters up until 1980. In 1980 the Civil and Domestic cases were separated. Paternity cases remained a part of Domestic cases from 1980 to 1982. Probate case types contained all probate, guardianship, adoption, and mental illness matters. Juvenile matters were set apart and were later separated into Juvenile Dependency and Juvenile Offender.